


Everything I Wanted (Then What?)

by 1Temmie_Official1



Series: Northern Downpour Sends Its Love [12]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Bisexual Zuko (Avatar), Canon Era, Canon Universe, Dreams vs. Reality, Gen, Iroh is a bit iffy here, M/M, Multi, Trans Zuko (Avatar), Zuko (Avatar)-centric, believe me this will make sense when you read it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-17 11:34:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29224779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1Temmie_Official1/pseuds/1Temmie_Official1
Summary: Zuko sat up straight.Something was wrong.
Relationships: Sokka/Yue/Zuko (Avatar), Yue/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Northern Downpour Sends Its Love [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1957609
Kudos: 32





	Everything I Wanted (Then What?)

Zuko sat up straight.

Something was wrong.

It wasn't something that screamed out at him, it was something that coloured the air and hummed just beneath his skin. His clothes weren't the ones he woke up in. His head felt strangely lighter yet heavier behind him. It was disorienting. Zuko could honest-to-Agni not tell if he was awake or dreaming. His dreams weren't this vivid though. He reached to get his hair out of his face only to find no hair there.

_The fuck?!_

All of his hair was cut in a phoenix plume, he knew this because after his father _scarred half his face off_ , the healers had cut his hair in a phoenix plume to better operate on it. Didn't change how he had a huge scar on his face.

A knock on the door. Zuko made sure that he was actually dressed before turning to the door. "Come in."

It was Uncle Iroh. Thank Agni, maybe he could explain what happened to him. "Prince Zuko, I brought you Jasmine tea."

Zuko smiled politely. "Thank you, Uncle. I have a problem." He sat down, taking the cup of tea Uncle had set out. Uncle had a strange expression on his face, but then again, it was a strange situation.

"Of course, Prince Zuko." Uncle sat down across from him, the strange expression not leaving his face. "Today is the anniversary after all." Zuko became serious.

"No, that's in summer. It was right after the Seige ended." He corrected.

"Ah. You know me, I'm getting old, can't remember things." Uncle chuckled. It seemed forced, but Zuko had never been good at social cues.

"Well, this." He gestured to his phoenix plume. "I'm pretty sure I didn't go to sleep with that. Also..." He frowned, now taking into consideration his surrounding. "Where are we?"

Uncle put down his cup of tea, brow furrowed. "What is the last thing you remember?"

Zuko put down his cup of tea as well. "Well I was with the Avatar and his group-" Uncle's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "And we had just finished with General Fong- oh yeah don't work with him anymore, he's crazy." He chuckled. "Yeah, so the Avatar State isn't as foolproof as we thought. Don't worry, Yue and Katara took care of the injuries, it was only a few cuts and scrapes. Mei and Ty Lee said that you sent them to help with that, thank you for doing that."

Something was wrong in Uncle's expression. "Who are you and what have you done with my nephew?" He demanded.

Zuko frowned. "Uncle, it's me? What are you talking about?"

Uncle raised his hands in a firebending stance. Zuko had nowhere to run. Fuck. "My nephew never says thank you."

Zuko put his hands up in surrender. "Uh. Fuck. What's something only I would know."

"I do not know how you possessed the body of Zuko, but you should know that I have trained-" Zuko was forcefully reminded of how powerful Uncle Iroh was. Fuck fuck fuck fuck.

"When I was a kid, we called Lu Ten 'Lulu'." Uncle paused. Zuko exhaled, thankful that Uncle wasn't in attack mode. "I didn't recognize him because he was growing a beard. Is that enough?"

Uncle relaxed. "Yes."

Zuko slumped in relief. "Okay, so if I'm not me, then where am I?"

Uncle sighed. "I suppose you don't remember anything that is... correct for this universe past the age of 10."

"Probably not." Zuko admitted.

"Well, after Fire Lord Azulon died, your father took to the throne." Uncle began his explanation.

"What?" Zuko paused. His father. On the throne as Ozai thought he deserved. That was a nightmare, the war would be restarted- no. In this world, the war never ended. This was horrible, he had to get back to where things made sense. "Never mind, continue."

Uncle sighed. "3 years later, your father burned and banished you in front of a crowd." Zuko frowned. His scar did feel different. "For the past 2, now 3, years, you have been searching for the Avatar." Before Zuko could voice his question, Uncle continued. "I have been with you. It was the terms of your banishment, the only way you were ever able to return was if you found and captured the Avatar."

"That's stupid." Zuko groaned. "So what, I've been chasing a ghost story for the past 3 years? Didn't I realize at all that Ozai only wanted to kill me to remove me from succession?"

Uncle sighed. "I wished you had. We are currently on the run for treason."

Zuko snorted. "Treason? What'd we do, kill Ozai? I wish.”

Uncle drew his lips into a tight line, and Zuko could tell he was debating what to say. “At the North Pole, we...”

Zuko groaned. “Please don’t tell me we helped _Zhao_.”

Uncle blinked. “No, we worked against Zhao, that is why we were sentenced to treason.”

Zuko suddenly realized that the attack on the North may have been different in his reality than theirs. “What happened at the North Pole?”

Uncle frowned. “Well, from what I understand and what you told me, the Siege of the North began, but you managed to sneak inside the city and you captured the Avatar. But then was defeated by Master Katara.”

“Yeah, she’d kick my ass any day.” Zuko acknowledged. Katara was, frankly, terrifying. 

Uncle smiled a bit. “Yes. After that, Zhao came to the spirit pool, from what I understand you have been there. He then slew the Moon spirit. I chased Zhao and his men out of the spirit pool while the Avatar merged with the Ocean Spirit to defeat Zhao’s fleet.” Zuko took a moment to absorb this.

“That isn’t too different from what happened in, uh, my world. What happened next?”

“Well, to restore the balance of the world, Princess Yue- I don’t think you met her- sacrificed herself, becoming the moon spirit.”

“ _What?_ ” Zuko exploded. “Of course I know Yue, I’d hope I know the name of my own betrothed! Agni! She just took on the mantle of the moon spirit, right? She’s okay, Uncle? Right?” Uncle was silent. “Right?”

“I’m afraid that she, for all intents and purposes... passed away.” Uncle said gently.

Zuko was shocked. He slumped back. “How would Sokka react? She... I can’t just _live_ without her.” Zuko stated.

Uncle was confused. “I didn’t know you had- have- such a strong bond with Princess Yue. How do you know her in your world?”

Zuko, still in shock, began his (greatly shortened) version of the events. “Well, in my world Ozai isn’t the Fire Lord, you are. I met Yue not too long ago, early fall. She was beautiful and I fell for her hard.” He smiled at the memories. All he had to do was get back to his world, he could see her again. “You saw how much we both liked each other and drew up an arranged marriage. We haven’t been together for that long but... she’s amazing, Uncle.” For a moment he could pretend that this was _his_ uncle. He would have to go back to his world, though. If this world’s Zuko was anything like him, then it would turn out all right, even if it would take a while.

“You sound very in love.”

“I know! She’s beautiful, I know Ozai always called me unlucky, but I think I’m the luckiest person in the world to have two people who love me as Yue and Sokka do.”

Uncle’s eyebrows raised. “You have two partners?”

Zuko frowned. “Yeah? Yue, princess, duh, and Sokka, he’s a warrior from the Southern Water Tribe.”

Uncle took on a strange expression, not like the one from before but still a strange one. “I was not aware that you also liked men.”

Shit. He knew that not all people were accepting. “It might just be me, I’m not so sure about this world’s Zuko.” It felt weird to refer to himself in the third person. “I mean, in my world, a lot of stuff happened. Who knows, Azula might be here and shooting lightning at all of us!” Zuko said, forcing laughter. Maybe. Maybe Azula was alive?

“Your sister is, unfortunately, still ‘shooting lightning at all of us’. She has pledged herself to your father.” Uncle turned solemn.

Zuko wasn’t sure how much shock he could take but he sure as Agni was going to test that limit. “Azula is _alive?_ ” It shouldn’t have been like that but tears stung at his eyes. “She’s _alive_! Thank Agni! Is she okay? I know that Ozai is a dickhead but she’s strong, always has been. Wow.” Zuko felt a grin across his face. “Wow.”

Uncle was confused. “I thought you would not like to see your sister.”

“Not like to see her? I haven’t seen her in, wow, 6 years.” He sobered. “I don’t even know if she’s still alive in my world. I’d give anything to see her again, well, probably except like my title and stuff but still. She’s my baby sister, how bad can she be?”

Uncle grimaced. “That is not a question you are going to like the answer to.”

-

“Father’s changed his mind. Family is suddenly _very_ important to him. He’s heard rumours of plans to overthrow him; treacherous plots. Family are the only ones you can trust.” Azula snapped her head to Zuko. “Father regrets your banishment. He wants you home.” She summed up. He had needed that sometimes. Zuko had the strangest expression on his face. He seemed overjoyed yet... sad. She knew he hated her, he didn’t have to rub it in. “Didn’t you hear me? You should be happy. Excited. Grateful. I just gave you great news.” She prompted, hoping to get him to show anything but that kicked iso-puppy look. This wasn’t going according to plan. He was supposed to run blindly into this. Since when did her idiot brother develop critical thinking skills?

Uncle seemed to give cannon fodder between Zuko’s answer by talking. “I’m sure your brother simply needs a moment.” She didn’t need this, what she needed was classic Zuko behaviour. He couldn’t have changed this much in 3 years. She needed him to make a rushed decision. She needed to apply pressure.

“Don’t interrupt, Uncle!” She growled angrily. She turned to Zuko, all sweetness. “I still haven’t heard my thank you. I’m not a messenger. I didn’t have to come all this way.” Good. Make him think he owes you.

“Father regrets? He wants me back?” Why was he skeptical? That wasn’t right. He wasn’t supposed to be like this! She needed a change of plans. There was only so much she could do on the fly.

“I see you need time to take this in.” Liar. She was the one that needed time, she was the one that was failing right now. “I’ll come to call on you tomorrow. Good evening.” She curtly left. She would not fail.

-

“Uncle.” Zuko said. “I... forgive me if I don’t want to stay.”

“I won’t. I love my nephew, and though you are a version of him, I do not quite think of you as mine, if you understand.” Zuko thinks he does.

“I know, Uncle. We’ll fix this.” He paused. “Uncle...”

Uncle turned to him. “Yes, Prince Zuko?”

“I’m not your Zuko, we both know this. Just... if he ever does something bad, because I know myself, don’t give up on him. I mean don’t destroy yourself in the process but...” He exhaled shakily. “In my world, I suffered a lot. It made me who I am.” His father’s words echoed in his head. “Your Zuko has too, I’m not saying he hasn’t. But in my world... my mother left, my father tried to kill me, he killed Azula. I don’t want your Zuko to lose anyone else as I did.” He paused once more, letting Uncle take this is. “Don’t give up on Azula either.”

Uncle frowned. “I can’t promise you the latter. Azula has been consumed by the same anger and evil that Ozai has, it is impossible to save her now.” He stated it as fact. Something inside of Zuko twisted. Uncle wasn't perfect, it should have been obvious but to just give up on someone like that... Zuko didn't dwell on it. (However, the question did not go unsaid in Zuko's mind: _What if he had given up on me?_ )

Zuko blinked. “Uncle, you have to listen to me. I know that Azula isn’t the best person, but she’s a kid. If you think that I went through something bad, she went through twelve times worse. I... just, treat her well. She’s not going to be perfect, no matter how hard she tries. Don’t put too hard of expectations on her.” He exhaled. Maybe it wasn't as bad as Zuko made it out to be. “Goodnight, Uncle.”

"Goodnight, Prince Zuko."

-

When Zuko awoke he was confused. "Hey, Zucchini." Sokka greeted.

Zuko groaned, sitting up, spitting his hair out of his mouth. Gross. "I had the weirdest dream. It was like 'what would happen if Ozai was Fire Lord instead of Uncle."

Aang frowned. "That sounds weird."

Zuko nodded, still not quite over it himself. "Yeah."

Yue chuckled. "What happened there?"

Zuko tried to grasp the straws of his memory. "Well, my sister was alive, for some reason I was on the run? I think I was bald with a ponytail."

"How would that work?" Sokka asked at the same time Katara asked, "You have a sister?"

Zuko paused. He hadn't thought about Azula a lot over the years, the memories hurt too much. "I... I _had_ a sister. I don't like to talk about her."

"Okay." Katara dropped the subject, and they continued their conversations.

-

Iroh was almost disappointed that Zuko was back to normal. The dream that his nephew could somehow be... okay was disorienting, but perhaps it was the Spirits sending a message- if one version of Zuko could be better, then perhaps his Zuko could.

Something in his mind struck out though. The comments about Azula. Zuko hadn't thought of Azula very often unless it was in self-deprecation but in Other Zuko's world, Azula was dead. Perhaps that would be better, Azula was crazy and it was best that she went down.

It was confusing to see such a guarded look on Other Zuko's face. Zuko had always been an open book to those who knew how to read him, but Iroh could honestly not see _why_ Other Zuko felt that way about his sister.

Iroh didn't dwell on it. He was going to have to stop Azula from taking Zuko prisoner.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a little brain child I wrote before I finished the Fong section. I am putting the timeline _so_ out of wack but fuck you this is my universe.


End file.
